Berklee Scholarship Jazz Ensemble Plays at Blue Note and Umbria Festival

For the second year, the Berklee Scholarship Jazz Ensemble, a top student group, played their original compositions and more at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, on May 15. Their first set was broadcast live on the Blue Note's web site at <www.bluenote.net(Opens in a new window)> and is archived there.

The group includes Patrick Cornelius (alto saxophone), of San Antonio, Texas who won the BillboardEndowed Scholarship and will play at the Monterey Jazz Festival this fall. Kari Harris (trombone), of Seattle, Washington, has attended Berklee on full-tuition scholarship and represented Berklee at events in Germany and France.

Mark Kelley (bass), of Houston, Texas, also a full-scholarship student, has been featured at several international jazz festivals.

Kendrick Scott (drums), also of Houston, was a recipient of the 1999 Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship from IAJE and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. He can be heard on the recently released Summa Cum Jazz II CD.

Like Kendrick Scott, Walter Smith III (tenor saxophone) also received a Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship and was named a United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts.

Michael Shobe (trumpet) of San Francisco, has performed with various groups at the Monterey, Montreux, and North Sea jazz festivals.

Lage Lund (guitar), of Skien, Norway, performed at the IAJE Conference in January and played with the Berklee group at the Blue Note last year. He is also featured on the Summa Cum Jazz II CD.

Chihiro Yamanaka (piano) has appeared as a classical piano soloist in her native Japan and has worked as a composer and arranger for the NHK and Fuji-TV broadcasting companies.

Directed by Woodwind Department Chair and saxophonist Bill Pierce, the ensemble will also play at the Umbria Jazz Festival in July. Performing with the band at Umbria as guest artists will be Gary Burton, Donald Harrison, and Eric Reed.